BJP president Rajnath Singh on Sunday came down heavily on the Congress and other parties for raising questions over the prospect of an erstwhile tea seller in Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister.
Addressing the ‘Maha Garjana’ rally at the MMRDA grounds where 10,000 tea vendors from across the metropolis had been specially invited by the BJP to listen to Modi’s speech, Singh said, “Barack Obama used to sell ice-cream when he started off, Abraham lincoln was a lumberjack and APJ Abdul Kalam used to sell newspapers. Why can't Narendra Modi, who started off as a tea-seller, become the Prime Minister of IndiaIJ I would like to pose this question to ask Sonia Gandhi”.
Averring that the people in the country had made up their mind to bring about parivartan (change), Singh said that no power on earth could stop his from getting majority in the lok Sabha elections.
“As the BJP national president, I can sense that that people of this country have made up their mind that there is a need for ‘parivartan’ (change). There is anger among people against the Congress. The anger among people is mainly due to price rise, corruption and unemployment,” Singh said.
On the price rise, the BJP president said: “Ahead of the 2009 polls, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh has sought forgiveness of people for the price rise...and had assured that when they come to power, they would put a curb on it...five years have passed....we are still facing price rise....people forgive only once, not twice”.
Alluding to “rampant” corruption in the Congress-led DF government, Singh said: "Adarsh, Campa Cola society scam, irrigation scam...It seems as if the Maharashtra Government has become a Government of scams. The State Government rejected the inquiry commission report on Adarsh scam, saying it was done so in public interest. Can there be any public interest in shielding those involved in corruptionIJ”.
Singh hit out at the Congress for taking credit for the passage of the lokpal Bill. “The credit should rightfully go to Anna Hazare, who is a great son of Maharashtra,” he said.